Liam Lawson has returned to the wheel of a Racing Bull. Image: Pirelli
The New Zealander joined Arvid Lindblad and Ferrari reserve Antonio Giovinazzi on track on Wednesday as Pirelli wrapped up two days of running aimed at developing its Formula 1 tyres for 2027.
It marked Lawson’s first appearance in Racing Bulls machinery since the Hungarian Grand Prix, having spent the past three race weekends alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull as Isack Hadjar’s injury replacement.
Lawson logged 65 laps and 319 kilometres during the test, beginning with work on the C3 and C4 compounds before concentrating on longer C4 runs later in the day.
His fastest lap was a 1m18.471s, leaving him only 0.017s behind Lindblad, who completed 73 laps and 358 kilometres on his way to a 1m18.454s.
Lindblad also sampled the C3 and C5 compounds, while Giovinazzi carried out the largest workload of the day with 135 laps and 663 kilometres for Ferrari.
Giovinazzi’s program was completed entirely on the C3 and included both shorter qualifying-style work and extended runs, with his fastest lap coming in at 1m19.894s.
Lawson’s appearance comes at a significant point in the immediate driver picture across Red Bull’s two teams, with Hadjar continuing his recovery from the wrist injury which has kept him out since Zandvoort.
The Kiwi replaced Hadjar for the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix, scoring seventh at Zandvoort and sixth in Madrid during a considerably stronger second spell with the senior squad.
His Madrid result brought that temporary run to three races, although Red Bull has yet to confirm whether Hadjar will be ready to reclaim the seat in Azerbaijan next week.
Team principal Laurent Mekies said during the Madrid weekend that Hadjar’s rehabilitation remained on course, with simulator running set to form part of the final assessment before Baku.
That leaves Lawson’s Azerbaijan assignment unresolved, and his Imola outing should not be viewed as confirmation that he will return to Racing Bulls for the race weekend.
However, his first running with the team since Hungary comes as Red Bull works towards having Hadjar available again, which would naturally send Lawson back to his regular Racing Bulls role.
Mekies was full of praise for the 24-year-old following his sixth-place finish in Madrid, particularly given the challenge of moving between the two Red Bull cars at short notice.
“I think he’s done a very good job,” Mekies said.
“I think we all know how difficult it is to jump to a different team, to a different car, and I think that he has done that to the best of what could have been our expectations.”
Across both days at Imola, Pirelli accumulated 400 laps and 1963 kilometres of running, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc having driven for Ferrari on Tuesday.
The tyre manufacturer’s next scheduled development outing will take place at Magny-Cours in mid-October, where wet-weather testing will be conducted using the French circuit’s artificial watering system.